One Single Heartbeat
by iLOVEdisneyandvampiresxx1996
Summary: What if Bella hadn't bent over to catch her cup? What if everything had gone well? What if Carlisle had safely delievered the baby, and Bella could have remained human? – one-shot for everybody who had those questions in mind while reading Breaking Dawn.


**Hey people! Ok so, the other day, I was going through the pages of my Breaking Dawn book, looking for my earring (which, for some reason, I had left between some pages; probably as a bookmark :P) and it was between pages 346 and 347. I read the passages and then asked myself, "what would have happened if Bella hadn't bent over, reaching out to catch her cup?" And this is what I got as an answer (:**

* * *

"_I want you to grant us an exception. I want your permission to save her life."_

[…]

"_Fine!"_

* * *

"Rose?" Bella asked.

Rosalie chuckled. "Again?"

"I think I've drunk two gallons in the last hour," Bella explained.

Rosalie went to lift Bella from the couch and take her to the bathroom. "Can I walk?" Bella inquired. "My legs are so stiff."

"Are you sure?" Edward asked. He was always so protective of her.

"Rose'll catch me if I trip over my feet. Which could happen pretty easily, since I can't see them."

Rosalie set Bella on her feet, holding her by the shoulders. Bella stretched her arms. "That feels good. Ugh, but I'm huge," she sighed. "One more day," she said, patting her stomach. "All righty, then. Whoops–oh, no!"

Bella's cup, which had been left on the sofa, tumbled to one side, the blood in it spilling out onto the white fabric. Bella started to bend over so as to pick it up, but Edward stopped her.

"Don't worry; Rosalie has gotten it. You shouldn't do that, your stomach is too heavy for you and you could lose your balance."

"Okay, okay, I got it. No bending," Bella said, standing straight again.

* * *

"Bella, lie on your side, please," Carlisle ordered. Bella did as told, wincing when all her weight fell on her arm. "You're going to feel something cold in your spine, but don't worry, you'll be fine." He then injected the anesthesia. Bella shut her eyes tightly, shedding a few tears. "Alright. Now we have to wait, and when it takes effect, I'll deliver the baby."

Edward and Bella smiled, their eyes staring into the other's in a way that was almost divine. He took her hand in his, interlocking his fingers with hers.

"So, she's going to survive? I mean, human?" Jacob asked, smiling. His eyes were hopeful, his voice demanding.

"If everything goes well, then yes. Which is very likely to happen," Carlisle replied, and Jacob smiled even more widely. Everyone could see the relief in his eyes, joie present in every feature.

"Edward Jacob for a boy, Renesmee for a girl," Bella reminded. "What do you want it to be?"

"Hmm, I don't know. Or care. I'll love it no matter what." Edward bent down to kiss her, first sweetly, then gradually adding more passion into the kiss. Their tongues danced gracefully, their lips connecting and disconnecting rhythmically.

They would have kept going if it weren't for Emmett's chuckling. Edward stood up and looked at him as if nothing had happened, as if he were crazy. Bella blushed and plopped back on the bed, causing the springs in the mattress to bounce like crazy, thus making Emmett laugh even harder.

"Emmett," Edward said, looking at him so superiorly that he didn't dare to make another joke.

"So…" Alice said, appearing in the room. "Your birthday is in two days, Bella."

"Oh, Alice! How can you even think about my birthday right now? I'm about to have a baby!"

"Rosalie and I already did the baby shopping. You've got nothing to worry about."

"You don't even know if it's a boy or a girl," Bella pointed out.

Alice shrugged. "We bought clothes for both–thank you very much."

"Both?!" Bella exclaimed. "Are you crazy? Alice, what are you going to do with the clothes he or she does not wear?"

"Bella," Alice spoke again, "we'll just…throw them away. What is it that's bugging you so much?"

Bella's jaw dropped, and she laughed. "Throw. Them. Away…?"

"Yeah."

Bella was laughing hysterically until she finally started to calm down, staying very quiet.

"It's almost time," Carlisle said, already grabbing the scalpel.

The anesthesia finally took full effect, and the room got very busy; everyone was running from one side to another, getting either blankets or things you can only find in a hospital. Breaking the vampire skin was not the easiest part; nobody could be sure that Bella wouldn't turn into a vampire if they used their teeth to break it.

"Jacob," Edward called, "you must do it."

"_Me_?"

"Yes. You're the only one who can do it without turning her into a vampire."

Jacob was grossed out beyond words, but agreed on it anyway. He leant awkwardly on Bella and bit the thick membrane; the terrifying sound made Bella shiver.

"Alright," Carlisle murmured, getting back to work.

Finally, after a long wait, Carlisle lifted a beautiful, bronze-haired baby. She was truly adorable; her cheeks–which were burning up–were a bright pink, her small nose fit perfectly into her little round head. Her lashes were long, and her eyes were an astonishing chocolate brown–the exact same shade as her mother's. She was, without doubt, the most beautiful creature any of them had ever seen; so utterly unique that she seemed like a fantasy, like she had come out of a fairy tale.

"Renesmee," Edward and Bella whispered. Carlisle wrapped her in a pink, cotton blanket and placed her in Bella's arms. The startled little girl was breathing quickly; she stared at her parents in wonder. Bella smiled adoringly and brought her closer, pressing her lips to her daughter's forehead.

"Renesmee. So…beautiful," was all Bella could say; she lacked of any better words.

Jacob was simply glad that Bella had survived human, so he decided to get a glance of her daughter; after all, he'd probably become Renesmee's uncle, or a close relative, because he knew he was going to spend as much time in that house as he could. He knew that because the need he felt to stay close to Bella had gotten even stronger now.

Or so he thought.

Peering around Edward and the other vampires, he stared at Renesmee. He locked his eyes with hers and then felt something warm inside him, a sensation he had never felt before. Everything he believed to be right or wrong did not matter; his world shifted in the strangest way, and for a split second, Jacob forgot _who_ he was. All that mattered to him was the angel-faced baby in his best friend's arms. Renesmee.

Edward looked at Jacob, shock re-shaping his façade.

"Jacob? Can we…talk?"

Jacob deliberated, but walked to the back of the room, his eyes on Renesmee.

"Edward, it's not what you're thinking–"

"No," Edward interrupted, "I know what's going on. Should I ask you to leave?"

"It's not what you think," Jacob explained. "I only want her to be safe and happy…sort of like a big brother, or an uncle, whichever you want."

Edward looked at him for a second, but then nodded and went back to marvel over his daughter.

"I can't believe she's mine," Bella said, stroking Renesmee's curls.

"But she has your eyes," Rosalie commented.

"Yeah."

"Bella?" Jacob said, hesitantly. "May I…hold her?"

"Uhm, are you sure, Jake? I don't think that…well, you know…"

Jacob realized that Bella was afraid of him being near Renesmee, and winced. He looked at Edward, his eyes pleading.

_Please? I won't harm her._

"Bella, we must talk…about Jacob," Edward said, not believing himself on having said that.

"…Sure? What is it, Edward?"

"Alone," he said, looking at everyone else. Bella oh'ed and bit her lower lip.

"I can stay, right?" Jacob asked.

"Whatever."

After everybody had left, Edward sat next to Bella and took the baby girl in his arms. She smiled when she saw his face.

"Bella, love, how should I say this…"

"What's going on, Edward?"

"Jacob, he, well, he…has imprinted on Renesmee."

Bella gasped as she looked at Jacob disgustingly.

"Bella, please…" he tried to explain.

"Jacob! How could you?!"

"It was involuntary!"

"But, Jacob! She's just a _baby_!"

"So? It wasn't my idea!"

"She's a newborn, and you already think you're going to marry her?"

"What? _No_! Bella, you've got everything wrong! I don't think about her that way at all. I only want her to be safe and happy! As if we were _family_."

Bella sighed and lay back on bed, thinking everything through, trying to understand.

"Oh, God, why…" she mumbled. Jacob sighed sadly and stared at his shoes, glancing at Renesmee ever so often.

Bella finally sat back up, shooting a murderous look at Jacob.

"Jacob, I don't know what to think."

"At least let me hold her…_please_…"

Bella sighed, but allowed it. She looked at Edward, who handed her the smiling baby.

"Jake…come over here."

Jacob grinned and went to Bella's side. Bella looked at her daughter, sort of…sadly? Regretfully? Apologetically? Jacob couldn't be sure. Nor did he care. He was just happy about being so close to the miraculous half-vampire, half-human baby.

Bella hesitantly placed Renesmee in his arms, and he couldn't help but smile. He was sure he looked like a blind man seeing the sun for the very first time. Once he held Renesmee, his broken life was rebuilt, and his aching heart, healed.

"Thanks, Bella," he said, staring into the baby girl's eyes. Renesmee looked at him and, very deliberately, placed her tiny hand on his neck. Jacob gasped.

"What?"

Just then, all the vampires entered the room and looked at Jacob and Renesmee. Edward took the baby from Jacob as he blinked several times.

"What was that?"

"I think it was Renesmee who did that."

"What did she do?" Carlisle asked curiously.

"She touched Jacob's neck and showed him her thoughts," Edward explained.

"Whoa–seriously?" Emmett said.

"Yes."

"Huh, what?" Bella inquired. Renesmee looked at Bella and placed her hand on her neck as well. Bella's eyes widened. "Oh," she then said.

"She's gifted?" Esme asked.

"Yes. It's like she does the exact opposite of what I can do," Edward said proudly.

"Let me hold her, please!" Rosalie pleaded.

"Here, Rose," Edward said, placing his daughter in Rosalie's arms. Rosalie smiled and lifted her niece into the air to nuzzle her face against her cheek.

"Have you thought of a middle name?" Esme remarked.

"Yes, I did," Bella said. "What do you think of 'Carly'?"

"Carly?"

"C-A-R-L-I-E. Carlisle and Charlie put together. What do you think?"

"Carlie's perfect," Edward said.

* * *

Hours later, everyone realized that Renesmee had grown a lot since her birth.

"The pituitary gland produces a large quantity of growth hormone, relatively. I use the term 'relatively' because it would be large comparedto a _human_. This was to be expected, as Renesmee isn't a full human; only half. It takes eighteen years for a human to reach full maturity, whilst, for a vampire, it takes three days. Again, I'm going to use the term 'relatively', because the way Renesmee's growing is fast compared to a human, and slow compared to a vampire. She gets a bit of both," Carlisle explained.

"What do we do?" Bella asked.

"I'm going to run a few tests, and I'll need weeks of measurement to see how fast she'll reach full maturity. This is not something we can do in one day, as this is a unique case."

Renesmee slept peacefully, cradled in Bella's arms, completely oblivious to what was going on around her. Which was a good thing, since, implicitly, her family was discussing how long she would live.

Jacob didn't find their conversation interesting either. He certainly did not want to know how much time his soul mate had left; after all, she had barely been born five hours ago. So, in order to be able to ignore the vampires' talk, he stared at Renesmee.

Her eyelids were a soft lavender color, and her little head was crowned with thick curls. He could not help but smile at her, knowing she couldn't see him, but it was at least something.

"Bella?" Edward whispered. Bella looked at him and Edward eyed Jacob. Bella followed his eyes and sighed.

"Uh, Jake?" she said.

Jacob was next to her in less than a second. "Yes?"

"Would you like to…hold her? I sort of need my hands here," Bella told him. Jacob smiled and stretched his arms out to receive the small sleeping marvel.

Once she was in his arms, he heard her very close, her head exactly where his heart was beating. Suddenly, she smiled in her sleep and rolled her head to the side. Jacob saw her eyelids when she caught sight of him. She reached for his neck and, out of the blue, bit his arm.

Jacob gasped and everybody turned to look at him. Bella's curious mascara turned into a worried façade as she urged for her husband to take her daughter out of her best friend's arms, already fearing the worst; after all, vampire venom was poison to werewolves.

"Carlisle?" Jacob said worriedly, the usual bitterness in his voice replaced by anxiety.

"Jacob? Don't worry, it's okay. We are going to help you. How do you feel?"

"Bitten…" Jacob muttered, "but, aside from that… I'm fine! I don't feel sick. It doesn't hurt that much either…"

"Renesmee's not poisonous?" Jasper asked.

"I highly doubt she is. If she were, Jacob would be in a lot of pain right now, or maybe even dead."

_Renesmee_, Jacob said in his head. _It will be sort of annoying to have to say Renesmee all the time. I don't dislike that name, but it's sort of a mouthful. She's going to need a nickname…_

Edward, having heard Jacob's thoughts, nodded.

_When are you gonna tell her?_ Jacob thought.

"It was your idea, Jacob," Edward answered simply.

"What's he thinking?" Bella whispered, forgetting Jacob could hear.

"Ask him."

"Jake?" she said, looking at him.

"Well, Bells…the name you came up with is kind of a mouthful…don't you think Renesmee needs a nickname?"

"What? Renesmee fits her perfectly."

"I know, I know. But it's sorta long. I mean, if I had to tell her something really important, I'd waste half of my breath just on saying her name."

"Jake, I don't know…what have you come up with?"

"Hmm," he racked his brain for a good nickname, and said the first one he could think of, "what do you think of…Nessie?"

"That's perfect!" Alice interrupted. "Nessie is just plain cute!"

"What? No! I completely disagree. I'm not nicknaming my daughter after the Loch Ness Monster!"

"Oh…" Jacob immediately realized his mistake.

"Bella, just think of it," Emmett said. "No one is sure if Nessie the monster exists, just as we weren't sure if there were other creatures like Renesmee. Don't you think they have a lot in common?"

Bella rolled her eyes. "I'll keep calling her Renesmee."

"What– ever!" Emmett said in a girly voice. Rosalie chortled.

* * *

Later that night, Jacob and all the vampires, except for Edward, went hunting. Edward wanted to stay at home with Bella and their newborn daughter, who already seemed a week old. She was already fast asleep, and he thought Bella was, too, until she spoke.

"Edward?"

"Yes, love?"

"Why haven't you…changed me? Into a vampire, I mean?"

Edward chuckled. "Because you told me you wanted to wait."

"Yeah, well, about that…"

"Hmm?"

"Would you change me right now, if I asked you to?"

He hesitated for a few seconds, then finally answered: "No."

"Why not?"

"Because," he explained, "Bella Cullen, even though I can't read your mind, I know you. And I know that's not really what you want."

"Well, that's true; I _do_ want to wait a bit. But _you_ don't want me changed, either. Why?"

Edward sighed and stopped looking her in the eyes, staring at the floor. "You heard Carlisle," he said finally. "Nes–Renesmee, she matures more rapidly than a human. I mean, look at her right now," he caressed his daughter's head. "She already looks a week old, if not more."

"And your point is?"

"Well–"

"So you're telling me," Bella interrupted, "that Renesmee will be an adult soon. Her infancy will probably last weeks and in a matter of years she'll be an old woman. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Love, what I meant to say is that…. You see how fast she's growing. It takes three days to turn into a vampire, and decades to be able to control yourself around humans, or in this case, half humans. You'd miss…everything about her."

Bella nodded, realization hitting her like a sack that contained one thousand bricks. She wouldn't be able to see her daughter ever again if her wish was fulfilled.

"But what if she's different? I mean, remember when I said how much she was like Jacob? Well…what if she stops aging, just like him?"

"If that were the case, then I'd change you. But Carlisle already said he'd need several weeks of measurement to track the trend."

"And what does this all lead to?" Bella asked, sitting up on bed.

"We'll see," Edward replied. "But on the mean time, I'd rather you remained human. I don't want you to miss one single heartbeat of hers, Bella."

Bella smiled and closed her eyes, taking Edward's hand in hers and pressing it against her cheek, enjoying the coolness on her skin.

In her crib, Renesmee quivered slightly and opened her eyes, making baby noises. She smiled when she saw her parents and raised her little arms up. Bella took her and she touched her neck, telling her she was thirsty. Edward, having read Renesmee's mind, stood up and headed for the kitchen.

Bella smiled and rocked her daughter back and forth, making her gurgle. She touched her hair and realized that it was, indeed, longer. She took one of her curls in her hand and released it; it bounced like a spring. Bella lay back on her pillow to fall back asleep, only to be awakened by an upset Renesmee, who demanded her mother to keep rocking her back and forth. Bella sighed and did as she wanted, her heavy eyelids threatening to close at any second.

Luckily, Edward ran through the door and took Renesmee from Bella's arms, feeding her blood with the same bottle Rosalie had found hours ago.

Renesmee was sound asleep in a matter of minutes, so Edward placed her gently in her crib. Bella smiled at the adorable picture they made and fell asleep thinking about it. And oh, did she have a good sleep for the first time in what seemed like years, because, every pieced seemed to finally fit into place, her life more balanced and in harmonic than ever. She had a husband who loved her, a daughter to adore, a family who supported her, and the best of friends who were capable of giving everything up just to see her smile.

* * *

**Did you like it? Did you hate it? Review! (: also please tell me about my grammar mistakes, because I know there are some people that may find mistakes annoying (I have nothing against those people because _I_ find it annoying when I see grammar mistakes in Spanish from people who have spoken, read and written Spanish their whole life). BTW; I'm going to clear up something that will most likely be an issue: I don't know much about childbirth so I only wrote the basic stuff. I'm sorry if it seems like it's happening really fast, I know I needed to do more research. That was my fault. And also, what Carlisle was saying about growth. My knowledge on that field is very limitted. I only know what I was taught in 6th grade. Yes I _did_ do a little research on that (used my 6th grade book), but I didn't want that part to be too explicit/confusing/boring, so I wrote it using my own words. That's why it may seem kinda...beginner-y. Sorry.**


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